Joe Mauer and his home run

[Born2Fish]

AJ: His career started to produce success AFTER becoming a member of the Chicago White Sox in 2005....

Mauer: The sweet swinging Mauer is considered the cornerstone of the Twins and has the potential to be one of the best catchers in history by the time his career is through.

[Big Dave2]

AJ: His career started to produce success AFTER becoming a member of the Chicago White Sox in 2005....

You better check his stats because he hit better as a Twin than as a White Sox.

[harvey lee]

Who is hotter than Joe right now?

[CodyDawg]

Dogpile on Dave! Man, it is easy to do too.

I will just answer one question....why have the twins had 2 (your number) of great first baseman in the last 20-30 years or whatever you said? Well, I would assume the two you are talking about are Harmon and Morneau? I would put Hrbie in that group as well. So, if you look at those years, we pretty much had an all star caliber first baseman the ENTIRE time. A little gap between Harmon and Hrbie, about a 8 year?? gap between Hrbie and Morny, with some serviceable years from Mientkevicz (sp?). So most of the time, we have had a great 1B. I dont get your point. In fact, it proves the point that 1B are relatively easy to come by. Lets talk about all of the standout catchers during that time. Zip, Zero, Nada. Okay, now that we are done talking about ALL of the great catchers pre-Mauer.....

[mrklean]

were in the playoff race right now 5 games up why are we complaining? The fact is to win we need to spend money. Ok lets not sign mauer to the large deal, lose some fans which in turn loses money for the team, and let him sign with the yanks and fall even further behind them then everyone already is.

[mrklean]

on another not how many Pierzynski jerseys did you see people wearing back when he was with us compared to maur jerseys? its not just about how well they play its a business its also about how much money they can make off of advertising as well. I dont remember any aj pierzynski lets dye our hair blonde and look like a dummy nights but we do have those joe maur sideburn nights.

[Born2Fish]

Dave, those 2 tidbits I threw out there were from the HSOforum you had linked(the 9 best catchers of the past decade), so not my opinion there. THEY said on that site that he did better AFTER becoming a White Sux catcher.

[Big Dave2]

Dogpile on Dave! Man, it is easy to do too.

I will just answer one question....why have the twins had 2 (your number) of great first baseman in the last 20-30 years or whatever you said? Well, I would assume the two you are talking about are Harmon and Morneau? I would put Hrbie in that group as well. So, if you look at those years, we pretty much had an all star caliber first baseman the ENTIRE time. A little gap between Harmon and Hrbie, about a 8 year?? gap between Hrbie and Morny, with some serviceable years from Mientkevicz (sp?). So most of the time, we have had a great 1B. I dont get your point. In fact, it proves the point that 1B are relatively easy to come by. Lets talk about all of the standout catchers during that time. Zip, Zero, Nada. Okay, now that we are done talking about ALL of the great catchers pre-Mauer.....

No, I was only talking about Hrbeck and Morneau. Hrbeck played from '81 till '94 and Morneau did play a full year at 1st base until 2005. Thats 2 star 1st basemen in 40 years.

10 years is an awful long time to go without a star 1st baseman if they are so easy to find.

[Big Dave2]

Dave, those 2 tidbits I threw out there were from the HSOforum you had linked(the 9 best catchers of the past decade), so not my opinion there. THEY said on that site that he did better AFTER becoming a White Sux catcher.

His home run production went up but his batting ave. has gone down slightly. It still goes to show that you could have still had one of the best hitting catchers in the game for a fraction of what they will pay Mauer.

[Big Dave2]

on another not how many Pierzynski jerseys did you see people wearing back when he was with us compared to maur jerseys? its not just about how well they play its a business its also about how much money they can make off of advertising as well. I dont remember any aj pierzynski lets dye our hair blonde and look like a dummy nights but we do have those joe maur sideburn nights.

Thats my whole point!!!

The reason Mauer is here is because he is a marketing gimmick for the team. It's not the fact that him and his 23 mil salary will give the Twins the best chance to win a world series, it's that the fans of this state would not have wanted to see him leave because he is "from here". There is NO WAY the Twins would have made this contract to Mauer if he were from Mobile Alabama. They would have done the same thing they did with Yohan Santana and Torii Hunter. Hunter was one of the best outfielders in the league and Santana was a dominating pitcher, again one of the very best. Why didn't the Twins give those guys lucrative contracts?

[DTro]

Gimmick..... LOL

[B. Amish]

I dont remember any aj pierzynski lets dye our hair blonde and look like a dummy nights ...

hilarious... thanks for the laugh.

also, aj can't and never has put a team on his back offensively and carry them for a month at a time. mauer does it yearly.

BigDave, please apply for the GM position of the sox or tigers.

[SledNeck]

No, I was only talking about Hrbeck and Morneau. Hrbeck played from '81 till '94 and Morneau did play a full year at 1st base until 2005. Thats 2 star 1st basemen in 40 years.

10 years is an awful long time to go without a star 1st baseman if they are so easy to find.

Hrbek

[mrklean]

haha i wasnt calling him a gimmick dave i was just adding that was a plus, hunter hasnt done that great since he left im happy with what we have out there, the santana thing i think blew up in our face we didnt get enough and what we got we all know what we got

[Big Dave2]

also, aj can't and never has put a team on his back offensively and carry them for a month at a time. mauer does it yearly.

A.J. Put the Team on his back and carried them past the 1st round of the playoffs, does that count?

[Big Dave2]

Gimmick..... LOL

So......you don't think that you could find 2 - $12 mil players who could help the team more than 1 - $23 million catcher who needs to take a month of games off?

[Big Bobber]

Unless all off you are retired or own your own business, (In both cases like me)I am very glad that none of you work or worked for me. 1260 posts on meaningless drivel, a good share of which is being posted on company time. Lots of opinions, but really nothing that helps any of us. Just my opinion as a business owner and former business manager.

[Willy]

Dave, people don't care where he is from as much as you think. They like the fact that the guy is a super player and good guy off the field. Torii Hunter was well loved here also. Kirby Puckett was from all places Chicago.

Also, RBIs are a stat that are more luck than anything. Best stats to evalaute a player AVG/OBP/SLG.

Mauer has posted an OPS under .800 only once in his career at .783, averageing .892

Pierzski has never posted one above .800, averaging .745.

Looking at it that way, Mauer is a far superior hitter to Pierzinski and also a much superior fielder. That is why he makes bank and Pierzinski is middle of the road $-wise.

Also Mauer has finished top 10 in MVP voting 3 times(soon to be 4) in 5(soon to be 6) full seasons, with one MVP award 4 All star appearances.

Pierzinski did make the AS game twice in 10 years and finished 30th one time in MVP voting. He was a good catcher, but to compare him to even close to as good as Mauer is not right.

[SledNeck]

Unless all off you are retired or own your own business, (In both cases like me)I am very glad that none of you work or worked for me. 1260 posts on meaningless drivel, a good share of which is being posted on company time. Lots of opinions, but really nothing that helps any of us. Just my opinion as a business owner and former business manager.

still the most productive workforce in the world

[CodyDawg]

Dave, you cant say we have only had 2 great 1B in the last 40 yrs and not count Harmon! hello, anyone home??? Harmon Killebrew, ever heard of him? Look up most career HRs and you will find him 11th. I kinda think he qualifies. So we have had 3 in the last 40. Maybe more before Harmon, that was before my time. And most of the years in the last 40 have been played with a stud 1B. During the same time period, we have had zero stud catchers (other than Mauer). Just think if you were to name all the stud 1B and all the stud C from all the teams in the last 40 ... or even 20 years.

Bottom line is this, we need Big Dave to make the Twins personnel decisions like Nancy Pelosi needs a Halloween mask....

[Big Dave2]

Dave, you cant say we have only had 2 great 1B in the last 40 yrs and not count Harmon! hello, anyone home??? Harmon Killebrew, ever heard of him? Look up most career HRs and you will find him 11th. I kinda think he qualifies. So we have had 3 in the last 40. Maybe more before Harmon, that was before my time. And most of the years in the last 40 have been played with a stud 1B. During the same time period, we have had zero stud catchers (other than Mauer). Just think if you were to name all the stud 1B and all the stud C from all the teams in the last 40 ... or even 20 years.

Bottom line is this, we need Big Dave to make the Twins personnel decisions like Nancy Pelosi needs a Halloween mask....

OK sorry, you got me, I should have said 38 years instead of 40. The last year that Harmon Killebrew was even relevant to the Twins was 1972. Took them almost 10 years to find Hrbek and another 10 yrs inbetween Hrbek and Morneau. Yep, I guess 1st basemen that hit close to .300, have 30+ HR every season and league MVP trophies are a dime a dozen.

[genegodawa]

Yeah Sled....and even more productive when working for a boss who appreciates the workers more for what they do than what they don't do.

[Big Bobber]

All I know is that I worked for 2 companies in the last 8 years that monitored internet useage, and several people on this board would be looking for a job elsewhere with the high unemployment rate that this country is experiencing. The human resource folks at these companies monitor personal internet useage and will not think twice about terminating abusers. Most companies today are operating "lean" and want employees to be engaged 100% of the time. These HR folks tell me that they get over 100 applications for every job that comes up, (as high as 500 apps) for jobs that range from labor to management. They just terminated a 25 year manager for internet abuse.

Off the subject I know, but if we keep at it we will not be the most productive country much longer. The new generation of worker does not have the work ethic of the "Greatest Generation." Generation X and Y have a long way to go to reach those levels.

[Big Dave2]

Unless all off you are retired or own your own business, (In both cases like me)I am very glad that none of you work or worked for me. 1260 posts on meaningless drivel, a good share of which is being posted on company time. Lots of opinions, but really nothing that helps any of us. Just my opinion as a business owner and former business manager.

This is also an opinion that does nothing to help any of us.

Just so you know, during the day I am working for myself and at night I work for a boss but you won't see any posts from me while I am at that job.

[Canon Guy]

There is NO WAY the Twins would have made this contract to Mauer if he were from Mobile Alabama. They would have done the same thing they did with Yohan Santana and Torii Hunter. Hunter was one of the best outfielders in the league and Santana was a dominating pitcher, again one of the very best. Why didn't the Twins give those guys lucrative contracts?

You could not have asked an easier question. The Twins said all along that they were not going to increase their payroll until revenue started to come in from the new stadium,that's why those guys were traded away or in Hunter's case,just allowed to enter the free agent market. Regardless of what you might think the Twins did exactly what they had to do and promised to do once they got a new ball park,sign their best players. If the Twins had not signed Mauer it would have been a PR nightmare like you have never seen around here.